Thank you for taking time to visit, and I hope I am even a tiny bit helpful as I have been helped and blessed by so many others. I have been doing Calligraphy since teens, and card making for many years as well. In 1990 I delighted in the joys of stamping with ink and embossing after a trip to Cairns, Qld. In 2009 I discovered the brayer, 2010 the Cuttlebug, also have now taking to reading up on crafting blogs and lo! Here I am, on one of my own.

I live on the coast of eastern Australia. I am a Christian. I trusted in the LORD down here at the beach, amazingly it is not far from where I now live. It was over 40 years ago, after a Beach Mission Service at the age of 12 years

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Wednesday, July 19, 2017

WOYWW + More Gilded Watercolour Distress Ink

Well sorry everyone .. been bit AWOL from WOYWW .. caught winter lurgy which mostly am over now, thankfully, so thanks to those who were praying, awful lot of it going around downunder!For those not in the know .. WOYWW is What is on your Workdesk Wednesday!Queen of WOYWW in Deskland is Julia, click on link and say hi to her .. she actually visited my desk today as you will see! To my desks - there's Julia Dunnit, present and correct! Mm, present in every sense. This was dining table yesterday, was I puzzled!

Open the parcel from Julia Dunnit and there is a real piece of snail mail.. she tells a good tale y'know! Of her trip to the US of A, to see some folks. Primarily her sister dear, and also Kathy F., who regularly looks in on WOYWW, but doesn't blog. Kathy makes these wonderful faux leather books, which she gifted with other things to Julia. They then spoke of folks on WOYWW, my name and blog came up, which Kathy also visits, Julia said she was concerned over my health... wow!So what does kind Julia do? but share her bounty with "moi" with a wonderful book shown below.. how very blessed plus, am I?! Thank you Kathy and Julia , I will be in touch Kathy, THANK YOU to BOTH dear ladies - so very, very kind!

I think what blew me away most is that not one of us truly know just how far the influence we have in others' lives reaches. I muddle on my way as best can, unaware of just who is watching on, how it's influencing others. I pray (in my case) it is for good. That's my aim as a Christian, to be a blessing to others. So it kind of shocks me when I am blessed in return. Isn't WOYWW grand??! Look at the amazing attention to detail in Kathy's work, truly exquisite and beautiful!

Inside Kathy's carefully hand-tooled book.

So my actual desk, this morning, staged with the exquisitely detailed book from Kathy, Julia's long and oh, so very welcome missive on right. It cheered my heart so to receive it!!Centre two cards made with gilded tissue watercolour method, and more samples on left not made up yet.. saving them for Rudolph day on 25th, for Christmas cards! To see this technique step by step scroll down to post below or click here.. its a new fun background method! Saw this tissue watercolour method over at Loll's blog (see here). Now crumpled and glued backgrounds ready for EP gilding watercolour samples below, the tissue paper dries beautifully.

I
also used the negative from the previous card made with the "Just for
you" die on this post to sue up Mirri outline with some glitter ..
re-cut oval below as you see with SB Petite Scalloped oval to make
another card totally out of scraps love that!To the Aussie shots below .. we are really in winter downunder and this was taken out at my sisters, they see the migrating humpback whales heading north for warmer temps in outr winter down here .. all along headlands on coast they come in quite close.

This
was the last bunch picked from our roses before they were given their
winter prune. The Oklahoma at the front right was huge my very favourite
rose, so fragrant, Mr Lincoln behind it was also very fragrant, Queen
Elizabeth Pink is on left.

Thanks so much every one for popping over for a peek and chat! May God bless your day wherever you may be. Will do my very best in commenting, and truly appreciate your visits more than words can say. Shaz in Oz.x

"Great and marvellous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints." Revelation 15:3

44 comments:

Glad to hear you are feeling better, I did wonder where you had been but sad to say thought you were away as it's that time of year in the UK. Such a beautiful book from Julia and Kathy. Exquisite work and so apt. Love those backgrounds, will be checking out the method. Sarah #17

Morning Shaz. Glad to hear you are feeling a bit better - trust it will continue. What a beautiful post - and what a lovely gift all the way from America and then Britain! Enjoy it. You are indeed a blessing to others - so enjoy being blessed. Can't ever imagine that Aussie shot being taken in winter! It's a rare day when we have sunshine like that in the winters here. Loving the cards you made - I'm off to lo0ok up the technique.Take care dear girl. God bless.Margaret #3

I'm rather late calling in today but yesterday ( on my day off!) I had a customer request 3 School Memory bears making for Thursday (yes tomorrow!) so quilts had to be put to one side and I've been head down sewing all morning....have now got an evening dress to shorten and a gents jacket to shorten the sleeves on.....all being collected tomorrow!! What a wonderful group we are part of. It's really good to hear you're improving....I really hope it continues.Hugs,Annie x #8

Gorgeous card... and what a wonderful bound book. The internet is great... but I do love to receive 'proper' mail - a handwritten (or even typed) personal letter is so special.Have a great day! :)Bubbles #5https://patchworkapples.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/woyww-424.html

Even a winter view of our beach makes my heart warm, truly you live in such a beautiful place! Really glad the snail mail has reached you, and very glad that you too have been prompted to marvel at the 'reach' that our blogs have and the friends we don't know we have - that sort f cheerleading is frankly, good for the soul on a hard day, don't you think.I love the card - trotted round to look at the technique, how clever, and what immense scope for colour the tissue papers allow.Yum!

I got so caught up in reading your blog and going over to see how you created the background that I forgot to comment and had to come back. This sounds like a ton of fun. I will be giving this a try for sure. Your card is gorgeous and the technique is perfect for the beautiful sentiment.Thanks for sharing with us at Dies R Us Challenge Blog. We hope we will see more of your designs in future challenges.Kathy DRU DT

Good to see you back, and what a marvellous gift from Julia (and Kathy) - and a gorgeous hand written letter to boot - who does that these days! (such lovely writing too, our Julia has!) thanks for dropping by and for sharing YOUR gorgeous pics too. Helen #7

I'm sorry to hear that you've been so poorly Shaz...am really glad to hear you're on the mend. The recovery must have been aided by that lovely present, that Julia, she's a good 'un! I have seen humpback whales off the Queensland coast, what a sight, I shall never forget it! I was thinking of you today as I watched the Alps stage of the Tour de France, what amazing scenery and camerawork, it was fabulous :-DHugs LLJ 4 xxx

I think I just experienced optical illusion with your sentiment. One moment I clearly saw "thank you", then I just saw gold pieces stuck down. Searching, searching and there I saw thank you again. Quite fascinating how one thing can be seen so clearly at one moment, then the next it looks completely different. I don't know if you know the story about people arguing whether a dress was white and gold or blue and black? I can actually see both colors. I'll include a link for you: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/12-optical-illusions-that-show-how-colour-can-trick-the-eye-a6790901.htmlWhat a great gift you received.

This is such a beautiful post Shaz. I was so glad to read that you're feeling better. There have been a lot of summer colds going around up here and I'm thankful that we've avoided them so far. Such an absolutely stunning book from Kathy and Julia. I have never before seen anything in leather that was handmade that I liked so well. Gorgeous. All of your photos are just beautiful my friend. Blessings,Betsy

Hi Shaz, fabulous desk today. I so love that gilding technique you've used. I used to do something similar with Mica based stains, screw the paper up and when dry open it and rub over with gilding wax or emboss, sounds similar. The Mica stains give the finished paper a gorgeous glow. Thanks for the visit to mine and have a great WOYWW, Angela x9x

What an exquisite book! A blessing indeed! So glad that you have been blessed dear Shaz, especially as you are such a blessing to so many. Love your roses, beach and beautiful card too! Still praying for you xxx

What an amazing book Shaz - that is so beautiful. Love your desk shots and the gorgeous backgrounds! Your roses are beautiful - my bushes are due for their prune - if it ever stops raining here - and are nothing but skeletons this time of year.BlessingsMaxine

Oh wow what a precious gift and it is so pretty!! I love your backgrounds, I still haven't given that a try, this week in my stamp group we are doing challenges each of us have come up with so I am busy with that right now.Good to hear your feeling better, hopefully you can get through the rest of winter without catching anything else. I wish winter here looked as pretty as winter there :) Your roses are beautiful!

So much to love here, Shaz! I'm so delighted that Julia sent you a handwritten letter and one of Kathy's beautiful journals! We all do pray for you and worry about you and know that this cheered you up to the moon and back! And well done with the tissue technique! You've created some excellent bgs and a spectacular card ~ the first of many, I'm sure! Thank you for the beautiful photos of your sea and your roses!! Lots of love and hugs, Darnell

Snail mail is just fun anyway but that awesome tooled hand-stitched book is super awesome mail! How fun. It looks like good things are happening on your desk. I picked up some things off mine this morning before work and uncovered several unfinished projects. If I finish those up it will look like I've actually been crafting!

What a beautiful gift! Do you know what you are going to use it for yet? I believe it was another WOYWWer that has a gratitude journal and writes five things a day that she is thankful for. I love that idea (have heard it before but it struck a chord with me today).Your card looks amazing!I'm visiting late this week!! Today is my last day on the job and I'm taking advantage!Happy WOYWWHugs, Kay (28)

Oh, dear Shaz, I am so glad you are starting to feel better but will continue to pray for complete healing. It's terrible when it's cold and you don't feel well. :( Wow, what an exquisite faux-leather book with beautiful tooling! What a precious gift along with the wonderful hand-written note from Julia. Don't we just love those and miss getting more? How dear of Julia to share one of Kathy's books with you! But you are a precious friend to us all! I always love seeing what's on your desk and love seeing this in process. I saw Loll's new tissue watercolor method and love the beautiful backgrounds of color! What stunning cards! I love seeing photos of your coastline and was quite intrigued by the humpback whale journeys to keep warm. Another beautiful visit with a precious friend, sweet Shaz! Warm hugs and love! xoxo

What a beautiful gift - looks very medieval! Your tissue backgrounds are beautiful, especially on the card that you made with it! Thanks for your earlier visit to mine, and for your condolences for Penny, I still see her around every corner! Lindart #35

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My name is Shaz and I am a former schoolteacher. I have found, like many others, that crafts are very therapeutic in times of "un-wellness". I thought this blog was one way of recording these my crafty ideas for myself and others.You are welcome to use any tips gleaned as long as it done in a respectful way, and not direct transfer for any gain. I have appreciated the help from others' sites and hope I may in turn re-pay this kindness.

IO - Impression Obsessions die.LOTV - Lili Of The Valley productsNesties - Spellbinder NestabilitiesNBUS - Never Before Used Schtuff (aka Darnell of DJKardKreations)MFT - My Favorite ThingsPP - PanPastelsSandwich -Plates (A, B, or C), Rubber mat, or Shims used with Cuttlebug machine in order to cut and emboss or both.Shim - a piece of cardstock, size of Cuttlebug plate, used to get right thickness to pass the folders, die etc through the Cuttlebug.